KHARTOUM: Soldiers arrested most of the members of Sudan’s cabinet and a large number of pro-government party leaders on Monday in an apparent military coup, throwing a fragile transition towards democracy into disarray.
According to reports, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok had been placed under house arrest and military forces arrested four cabinet ministers, one civilian member of the ruling Sovereign Council, and several state governors and party leaders.
The information ministry said “joint military forces” had arrested civilian members of the Sovereign Council and members of the government and had taken them to an undisclosed location. Witnesses said joint forces from the military and from the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces stationed were present in the streets in Khartoum.
Sudan has been on edge since a failed coup plot last month unleashed bitter recriminations between military and civilian groups sharing power following the 2019 ouster of former leader Omar al-Bashir who was jailed after months of street protests. A political transition agreed after his ouster has seen Sudan emerge from its isolation after three decades and was supposed to hold elections by the end of 2023.
US Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman said the United States was deeply alarmed at reports of a military takeover of the transitional government in Sudan. On the official Twitter of the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, Feltman warned that a military takeover would contravene Sudan’s Constitutional Declaration and puts at risk US assistance.
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The military and paramilitary forces were deployed across the capital Khartoum, restricting civilians’ movements as protesters carrying the national flag burnt tires in different parts of the city. The information ministry said that a number of ministers and civilian members of the ruling Sovereign Council were arrested. Khartoum airport was shut and international flights were suspended while internet services appeared to be down.
Hamdok is an economist and former senior UN official who was appointed as a technocratic prime minister in 2019 and is well respected internationally. He is popular with pro-democracy civilian groups but has struggled to keep the transition going due to political splits between the military and civilians and the pressures of an economic crisis.
As tensions built this month, a coalition of rebel groups and political parties aligned themselves with the military and called on it to dissolve the civilian government, staging a sit-in outside the presidential palace.
Last week, several cabinet ministers took part in big protests in several parts of Khartoum and other cities against the prospect of military rule. The military head of the Sovereign Council has previously asserted his commitment to the transition.
